08 What is Design Strategy

8/6/2019 08 What is Design Strategy

1/18


2/18

y The globalmarketplace is near

and around us.


3/18

y

Telecommunications and e-commerce continue to break downtraditional market boundaries.

y Information about products and

services is cheap, and orderingexactly what you want is easier thanever.


4/18

y

For consumers, that's great news.

y But if you're selling products andservices, the marketplace isincreasingly congested and complex.

y Today, more than ever, business ownersmust think about how their company,or product will stand out.


5/18

y D esign strategy can help.

y Not design ,

y But DESIG N STRATEGY .


6/18

y M ost companies understand that design is important.

y Ask the owner or CEO of an organization if the logo orthe look of the brochure is important to the company,

y and the answer is usually an emphatic, "Yes!"y Design , after all, can and should impact the

emotional buying impulses of an organization'scustomers.


7/18

y Even so, few companies understandand use design as a strategic asset.

y In part, that's because design is oftenthought to be primarily a creative andfinite endeavor: Identify the project,execute the art, toss it out into themarketplace.


8/18

y D eveloping a design strategy, on the other hand, isnot an event.

y It's a business process.

y It should not be confused with the art or creativeprocess.

y In fact, it's not a creative endeavor at all ; it'smuch more comprehensive, involvingextensive audits, analysis of competitors andmeasurement .

y It touches every aspect of a company.


9/18

y

Because it's a business process, adesigner or firm offering designstrategy services can and should

be expected to make a reasonedbusiness case for designrecommendations resulting fromthe design strategy process .


10/18

y U nderstanding the differencebetween design and designstrategy is the first step indeveloping and implementing

an effective design strategy.


11/18

y H ere's an example. M ainely WidgetServices ( M W S) is a small widgetservicing company.

y They fix, maintain and consult to the widgetmanufacturing industry.

y Started by two college friends, MW S grewmodestly but steadily for seven years.


12/18

WIDGETy P ronounced wih-jit . (1) W idget is a generic term for

the part of a GU I that allows the user to interface withthe application and operating system . W idgets display information and invite the user to act in a number of

ways. Typical widgets include buttons , dialog boxes ,pop-up windows , pull-down menus , icons , scroll bars ,resizable window edges, progress indicators, selectionboxes, windows, tear-off menus , menu bars , toggleswitches and forms.

y The term widget is used to refer to either the graphiccomponent or its controlling program or to refer to thecombination of both.


13/18

y R ecently, the largest widget servicescompany in the Northeast folded and nowMW S has an opportunity to contract with

much larger, regional clients.

y Obviously, other widget firms are also

interested in these accounts, and MW S nowfinds itself competing with national players.


14/18

y

A well-planned and executed design strategy isessential for success.

y A design audit would inform MW S about their brand

in the marketplace, regionally and nationally.

y It would identify possible scenarios and implicationsfor different approaches to design.

y For example, the MW S logo, an image of a lobster, worked well for them in the past.


15/18

y In M aine, the lobster image connotes images of place, strength and hard work.

y But nationally, this same image sends a different

message: dinner .

y The design strategy process would reveal that out-of-state clients are confused by the lobster image and how

it relates to quality widget servicing.

y The process would reveal ways to better communicateMW S's strengths.


16/18

y The design strategy process looks at all aspects of communication with clients.

y Sophisticated and consistent communications - bothinternally (newsletters, memos, etc.) and externally (letters, e-mails, invoices, faxes, brochures, website, ads,

etc.) - can make a small company look big.

y The process anticipates needs and helps companies todevelop and execute consistent communications

systems.

y By going through the process, can MW S gain an advantageover similarly sized firms and compete with larger firms?


17/18

y Design strategy is a planning process.

y It should be ever-sensitive to changes in dynamicmarketplaces, trends and industry influences .

y

Nor is it limited to the marketing department or thecreative services ; it touches every stakeholdergroup and department in a company .

y

It assesses and makes recommendations onfeatures, packaging and other product-relatedissues to create a seamless integration of brandand corporate image.


18/18

y Design , in its least effective form, is little more thanaesthetic remodeling.

y But used effectively , it provides a stabilizing

framework of culture, product and image thatsupports and enhances each and every activity within a company.

y And when used strategically, it's anothermanagement tool - as important and useful asaccounting, value-chain/supply-chain management,resource management and marketing.

Documents

08 What is Design Strategy